The Kicks tomorrow night @ The Blue Fugue

Friday

Sep 25, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2009 at 12:38 PM

Aarik Danielsen

If you need a straight-ahead rock and roll chaser for all the roots and blues to be imbibed this weekend, head over to The Blue Fugue Saturday night where Nashville act The Kicks will deliver a sound shaded by rock's primary colors. This young band-on-the-rise—formerly called The Four Kicks—features Columbia native Lucas Cummins on drums.

The band cites influences ranging from Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart to Pete Yorn and Tom Petty; "The Kicks are salted with the South but still pop like soda," their bio states. With their bluesy guitar riffing, stratospheric hooks and unrestrained enthusiasm, they reminded me more of acts like Jet and The Black Crowes; they resemble Kings of Leon or even Aerosmith a little as well.

The eight tunes which make up the band's debut, "The Rise of King Richie," are strongly tethered to the sounds, themes and play-with-abandon approach of their predecessors. The record, in fact, seems to be a celebration of rock's glory days. Among the album's highlights are the boisterous, straight out-of-the-gate "Sore Thumb" which features a terrific chorus, the hard-charging, bluesy "Celia" and the bright, Beatles-esque ballad "Good Morning." Late in the record, "Juliette" has much in common with the power ballads that made many a band rich and famous in the mid-to-late '80s; the track has a hook that could make it a hit in any decade.

At times, The Kicks seem a little too excited about linking themselves to their rock lineage. Lyrical passages talking about "sonic spaces and vinyl traces" (on "Turn It Out" ), loving a girl who doesn't recognize "the age of rock and roll is dead" (on "Juliette") and a piano ballad—"No Easy Way Out"—which begins with the dramatically sung clause, "In this dire state of rock and roll..." are a bit heavy-handed and self-important, perhaps.

Despite these few missteps, "The Rise of King Richie" is a really solid first effort. The band's tremendous gift for crafting a strong melody suggests they'll be played on multiple radio formats sooner than later. Certainly, the all-out style exhibited on the record promises the band's work will translate well to a live audience.

For more info on the show's start time and tickets, visit The Blue Fugue's MySpace page. You can watch a making-of the band's debut below: